Bangladesh wins in style and creates history in the process

By Tissa Jayatilaka 

It was an absorbing test match that ended on Sunday (19 March) afternoon just past tea at the P. Sara Stadium. And what worthy winners Bangladesh are. They fought hard, played extremely purposeful cricket and bagged a richly deserved win. Their desire and yearning to come back from the dead and turn tables on Sri Lanka were on display in this second test match from the word go. 

Whilst not wishing to take anything away from the fine Bangladesh side, it has to be noted that some of the gritty determination that their current coach Chandika Hathurusinghe displayed in his days as a Sri Lanka national player seems to have rubbed off on them. To come back from one down in the two-match series after their defeat in Galle makes this win even more commendable. A lesser side might have been demoralised and gone down tamely in the second encounter. But this Bangladesh side is clearly made of sterner stuff. They reminded me of the Sri Lanka sides of the early 1990s when they were brimful of talent, disciplined, determined and hungry for success.

This was a very good test cricket match. The game swung to and fro and both sides played decent cricket, but Bangladesh clearly performed better on the day. Their bowling and fielding in particular were clearly superior to Sri Lanka’s. Had Sri Lanka fielded better, perhaps they might have fared better for catches do win matches! It was an easy wicket to bat on, one which offered little assistance to bowlers, but Bangladesh’s more balanced attack enabled them to hold the edge and secure the upperhand. Their bowlers had greater penetration and variety whilst Sri Lanka depended, for the most part, on either the spin of stand-in skipper Rangana Herath and the young Lakshan Sandakan, who was a trifle expensive, or the swing of Suranga Lakmal for breakthroughs. 

Had Sri Lanka’s batting not let them down in the second innings, Sri Lanka could have fared better and set the visitors a more challenging score to seek a win. The dramatic collapse after lunch on day four when Sri Lanka, lost five wickets for a mere 47 runs, sealed Sri Lanka’s fate. The way Lakmal batted made one wonder why the specialist batsmen who came before him could not employ the degree of patience and perseverance that this specialist bowler did. 

The turning point of the match, however, was the very useful lead of 129 runs that the Bangladeshis managed in the first innings thanks to some gritty batting by the visitors aided by some sloppy fielding by the hosts. One reckons that Sri Lanka’s fate in this test match was sealed by the time that first innings lead was conceded. It was compounded by the batting failure in Sri Lanka’s second essay.  

Bangladesh’s success was due to a fine team effort. Both the stalwarts in the side and the newcomers chipped in to ensure that history was made in Colombo. They had not defeated Sri Lanka before in a test match either in Colombo or on their home turf. The seniors Shakib al Hasan, skipper Mushifiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal , Soumya Sarkar and Sabbir Rahman accredited themselves well. They were ably supported by youngsters Mehedi Hasan, Mossadek Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman. And they have in Chandika Hathurusinghe one of the shrewdest and most seasoned cricket coaches in the business. Had it not been for the shortsightedness of a couple of inexperienced and foolish cricket administrators, Sri Lanka Cricket would not have been deprived of Hathursinghe’s expertise. 

Sri Lanka Cricket got rid of Hathurusinghe whilst he was serving an Assistant Coach of Sri Lanka despite a strong and sensible appeal to the authorities made by Kumar Sangakkara not to do so. And the rest, as they say, is history in more ways than one! In addition to Hathurusinghe, Bangladesh are assisted by Thilan Samaraweera, who serves as the batting coach and Mario Villavarayan, the fitness coach. Courtney Walsh, their bowling coach, I am told is the only non-Sri Lankan in the Bangladesh coaching team. Ruwan Kalpage used to be the fielding coach at one stage. To use the cliché’, Sri Lanka’s loss has been Bangladesh’s gain. 

One feels it is premature to write the obituary of Sri Lanka cricket as some have done, however, tempting authoring such obituaries may be. The present elected officials who administer Sri Lanka Cricket are not too different from their previous counterparts.  All these officials exploit the loopholes in the Sports Law of 1973 and those found in the system to win elections. Hence we end up with six of one and half a dozen of the other. Perhaps the only time our cricket administrations have run as they should has been during the periods when interim committees were in place. One recalls the fine work done by  these Interim Committees when they were manned by those of the calibre of  Rienzi Wijetilleke, S. Skandakumar, Michael Tissera and Sidath Wettimuni to name but a few. They had no personal agendas or axes to grind and gave of themselves for the greater good of the country and the sport. 

All, however, is not lost. We have some fine youngsters such as Kusal Mendis, Lakshan Sandakan, Niroshan Dickwella (if only he could curb his impetuosity) and others coming to the fore. This is a time for team building for the future. 

Angelo Mathew’s proneness to injury is a cause for worry despite the good job done by stand-in skipper Herath. The latter has manfully carried the burden of being our most effective bowler in recent years but is no spring chicken and Sri Lanka needs to look for worthy younger spinners to replace him. It might also help if Sri Lanka does not keep constantly experimenting with its batting order and allow batsmen to settle down in accustomed positions and concentrate on accumulating runs instead of worrying about which number to go in at! Let us hope our cricketers will bounce back and accredit themselves well in the limited overs games that are to follow.